The Lost Years
by now i'm afraid of silence
Summary: What happened during the years between X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men? Anti-mutant feelings have surged and the government is a growing enemy. But what of Magneto, who has mysteriously disappeared? And what is Mystique planning now that the Brotherhood has joined Freedom Force? Not to mention that all of the students have graduated. Chapter 3: Lost Generation.
1. Prelude to Dreams

**Also, I've taken to naming the chapters after instrumentals that I like to listen to while I write. This chapter is named after "Prelude of Dreams" by Audiomachine. If you'd like to listen to the songs, I can put links to them on YouTube on my profile.**

**"Prologue: Prelude of Dreams"**

All was quiet as Professor Xavier and Logan walked through the hallway of the mansion, heading for Cerebro. The silence was almost eerie. There was no more screaming or laughter echoing throughout the halls, no more random fireballs or energy blasts wreaking havoc. While they were thankful for it, the quietness would take some time to get used to again. "How many do we have left now, Chuck?" Logan said in an almost sad voice.

"Just the ones that go to Bayville University: Scott, Jean, Rogue, Kitty, Kurt, and Bobby," the Professor replied, "As you know, the rest have gone home or are going to an out of state college."

It was the evening after Bayville High's graduation ceremony, and so many of their former students had been seniors, though now they were considered college freshmen. Kitty, Bobby, Sam, Ray, Roberto, Tabitha, Amara, they weren't the troublesome students they used to be. Besides, the first two were the only ones staying; Kitty wanted to major in computer science and Bobby in accounting at Bayville University. Now there were no more students, and there were now only six former students. At least they all chose to live off-campus so they could stay and help them with the X-Men. But who was there to help now? Everyone had graduated and Jubilee, Rahne, and Jamie had all left before being able to finish school.

"You know, I'm going to miss those training sessions. Now I'll have to practice with 'em instead of telling them what to do," Logan said.

"That's precisely why we're going to Cerebro, and the rest of the team is waiting for us," Xavier replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You see those rooms?" He pointed down a hallway with two doors on each side and a window at the end of the passage.

"Yeah, what about them? You had us all cleaning and organizing them yesterday. You didn't find new recruits, did you?"

"I did. But I wanted to wait to enroll more students after we had more room in the institute; we were full before the graduation."

They continued walking through the corridors of the mansion as the professor began explaining who the new students would be and when he found out about them. All eight had been found using Cerebro, and were scheduled to arrive at the Institute a week before Bayville High started again for the next school year. "I hope that we'll be able to manage them, with Scott, Jean, Kurt, Rogue, Bobby, _and_ Kitty gone during the day at college," Professor Xavier said, "I know you and Ororo had difficulty managing just six of them the first year."

"We were able to tame the 'New Mutants,' or whatever the called themselves, I'm sure eight new ones won't be a problem," his friend reassured him.

But he knew that there were new challenges now that the former students didn't have to face in the beginning. They weren't hated or afraid, they were able to be normal and have fun before the mansion was destroyed and rebuilt. Logan hadn't been to school for countless years, but he knew that it would be especially hard nowadays. Not to mention the growing threat of the government's contempt towards mutant. He had heard talks of some type of Mutant Registration Act. It was only a rumor, but Bolivar Trask, who had been let out of prison, seemed to have a major say in it, as well as Governor Kelly. Considering what he had heard, the government would know everything about them; and that didn't sit well.

Once they reached Cerebro, they saw the other X-Men waiting for them. Most had figured out that they were planning to take in some new students. "Congratulation again, Kitty and Bobby," Professor X smiled at his former pupils as he wheeled past them.

The two graduates smiled back and thanked him as they followed the professor into Cerebro. The computer quickly lit up and hummed with life as the professor put the helmet on. The X-Men crowded behind him to get a good look at the screen as eight pictures popped up. There were four girls and four boys. "These are our incoming students, I feel that it's fair to tell you about them before they come," the professor said, pressing a few buttons to show the profile of the first upcoming student.

**.~.~.~.**

Mystique sat in the living room of her home, working out a plan in her head. The Brotherhood Boarding House was finally empty. The moment after the graduation ceremony, where the older four had gone to support Todd, the five had come to the house, packed their belongings, and left. And to make matters worse, it looked like that former Acolyte, Pyro, had been driving the car that they took. She still didn't know why they had decided to return to school, but Mystique had learned that the less she knew about their personal lives, the better.

However, what really astounded the blue-skinned mutant was the fact that her Brotherhood, the one that she had worked so hard to build and train, had left to join S.H.I.E.L.D! Lance said it was something called "Freedom Force" that would promote mutants. They didn't want to be "bad guys" anymore, or at least that's what Avalanche claimed. She always questioned her decision of putting him on her team after he temporarily joined the X-Men.

The anti-mutant feelings had surged in humans after the Apocalypse incident. Mystique wanted to show them all that they shouldn't hate mutants, they should _fear_ them. And she had tried just that. But what had her protégés turned into? Superheroes, that's what they fancied themselves as now. Even Wanda didn't want anything to do with her, though that hardly came as a surprise as her mind was wiped my Mastermind.

She knew the solution, though, the perfect way to get back in good standing with Magneto. His plan was perfect, and if she wanted to be part of it, she would need a new Brotherhood. They would show the world that mutants needed to be feared and she would be helping Magneto. Besides, once they were finished on the mainland, they would be able to live in a sanctuary for only mutants. Mystique was satisfied with her plan: she would rebuild the Brotherhood.

* * *

**As I mentioned in the summary, this story will be bridging the gap between X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men. I'll be covering issues brought up in the flashes of the future that Professor X saw and some topics in Wolverine and the X-Men. There might be a few differences, but I'm going to try to make everything nice and smooth. **

**I have an actual plot planned for this story, so it isn't going to be spontaneous. Since it bridges the gap, we'll be dealing with the Mutant Registration Act, Genosha, the MRD (Mutant Response Division), etc. That also means the Phoenix Force, Wolverine temporarily leaving, and other factors seen at the end of Season 4 will be brought up.**


	2. With Great Power

**This turned out _much_ longer than I expected it to!**

**Also, I've taken to naming the chapters after instrumentals that I like to listen to while I write. This chapter is named after "With Great Power" by Immediate Music. If you'd like to listen to the songs, I can put links to them on YouTube on my profile.**

** Guest: Yep, that's exactly what it means! I've taken note of what happened to every New Mutant, Brotherhood member, X-Man, etc. in Wolverine and the X-Men (or at least the ones that showed up) and I'll find a place to explain how they changed.**

* * *

**"With Great Power"**

Logan had been gone for two weeks. All he'd done was say his goodbyes, pack up a few of his belongings, and then peel out on his motorcycle. Nobody had been expecting it, especially when the new students were about to arrive. Bobby thought he didn't want to help teach anymore, though the rest knew that it was a long time coming. He had somehow managed to stay at the Institute for four years without going off for more than a few days. Their friend needed a break from the school. But how long was he going to be gone this time? That only left Ororo and Hank as actual teachers and the rest of the former students who were more like helpers, with occasional exception of Scott and Jean.

Professor X wasn't very happy about his timing, though. Logan's teaching was invaluable, harsh as it was. And these new students would need to get whipped into shape fairly quickly if they were going to learn how to use their powers. It was a dangerous world out there for mutants, and the sooner they learned, the better.

"Storm, is everything ready?" The Professor asked as Ororo walked into his office.

"Everything's in place. Hank, Scott, and Jean should be back from the airport any minute now," she replied.

"Professor, have you heard anything about Logan?" Rogue asked, coming into the room.

She had begun to shed her gothic style, though still remained standoffish to those she didn't know. The two turned to face her and shook their heads. "He does this sometime, Rogue," Professor X explained, "Logan needs time alone. He's stuck around for a long time; it was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Well he sure picked a bad time to pull the disappearing act."

Before either Charles or Ororo could reply to Rogue, the sound of tires screeching and a honking horn reached their ears. Looking out the window, they could see the oversized car pull into the driveway and stop in front of the front of the mansion. Hank and Scott jumped out of the two front seats, likely ready to escape the overcrowded vehicle. "Here we go again," Ororo half-smiled, "Let's go down and welcome them."

The foyer was buzzing with activity when they arrived. The eight teenagers were talking with the X-Men and each other. "This place is _huge_," A boy with glasses said, walking up to the Professor, "I'm Calvin Bauer, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"I'm glad to see you, Calvin, and that you were able to come here."

Calvin shook his hand with a smile on his face. He couldn't believe he was actually at the Xavier Institute! The mansion had been on the news two years ago after mutants were exposed and he could remember hearing about it one the news. It had only been a year after that when his powers showed up, and coming to this school to learn how to use them had become his dream.

However, there was still the matter of the other students. Calvin had tried to figure them out on the ride back from the airport; that trip had been miserable. First he had had to endure a boring flight from Chicago and then he had to cram into a car with seven other teenagers. Not that he minded, but he wasn't sure how they would get along. "Hi, I don't think I caught your name. Clyde, right?" A girl came up to him.

"No, sorry, it's Calvin."

"Well hi, Calvin. I've been going around introducing myself to everyone since it would've been way to tricky in the car. I'm Mallory, Mallory Popov. But my friends call me Mal."

She wasn't quite sure what to make of Calvin, or everyone here for that matter. They all looked as perplexed as she felt. Not that they weren't happy to be here, it was just all so new. Calvin didn't seem particularly up for talking, but seemed very interested in the woodworks of the foyer. Mal walked away from his side, searching for someone new to meet. There were seven people that she was going to live with, and no good would come if they got off on the wrong foot.

Her frizzy hair bobbed up and down as she walked around the foyer, speaking with some of the former students who called themselves Rogue and Kurt. They explained the rules of the house to her and how everything worked. "Make sure you don't bring anyone to the mansion without getting the Professor's okay on it. I paid for that," Rogue admitted.

"Good to know. That reminds me, what's Bayville like? My old school was kinda rough, so…"

Rogue and Kurt and exchanged glances, and then Kurt answered, "I wouldn't exactly call it 'mutant friendly.'"

"You got that right," Kitty walked up with a petite, pale girl on her heels, "You wouldn't believe the names they called us, sheesh!"

"You're going to scare them, Kitty," Rogue rolled her eyes.

The girl that was Kitty looked around, frozen to the spot, watching everyone converse with each other. She gripped her book tightly in her arms, she hadn't let it go since she got off the plane from Fargo. "Guys, this is Bridgette Lundgren," Kitty said gently pushing the girl forward a bit.

Bridgette tensed, looking from one face to the other, trying to figure what to do. "Um…hi…" she began, looking down at her plain black flats.

"Don't you think it's too hot for that? It wasn't that cold in North Dakota was it?" Kitty raised an eyebrow.

"N-no. I'm just…always cold," she said in a quiet voice.

Her book felt heavier as she quietly scooted away when Kitty turned to speak to her teammates and the girl calling herself Mal. Bridgette stood on her tiptoes, looking for her luggage. She wanted to go to her room and read, since she hadn't gotten a chance to do so ever since she had arrived at the airport in Fargo. It was bad enough that the airplane engine was loud, but she had had to sit next to a chatty preteen girl who went on and on about Justine Bieber and One Direction.

Smoothing down her plain knee-length skirt, she put her heels back down. Bridgette couldn't help but wish she was taller. Her luggage was nowhere in sight, but it was probably with everyone else's. Walking backwards, she tried to get a better view of the foyer, hoping to at least find her carry-on bag. However, as she walked backwards, raising herself up on tip toe again, she felt herself run into someone behind her. Bridgette immediately whirled around and winced, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

The boy she had walked into looked down at the girl. Before he had a chance to say anything back, she had skittered off somewhere. "Elijah Morgan, correct?" The man in the wheelchair came up to him.

"Yes, I'm glad to meet you, Professor," Elijah said.

"Good to meet you, too. Now, if you'll follow Bobby and Jean, they'll show you to your rooms. We'll send the luggage up in a little bit."

Elijah thanked him and walked up the stairs, where two other students stood waiting for the others. He quickly studied them, trying to figure out anything he could about them. The boy was as tall as he was, though he wore something in each ear that looked like tiny hearing aids. The girl had a certain toughness about her, a leather jacket and combat boots would do that. _These are the people I'll be fighting with, they're my team,_ he thought to himself.

He scanned the rest of the room, trying to figure out his fellow students' abilities, and even those of the teachers. But nobody was using them, though he decided that that was a good thing. Using their powers could result in some chaos.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Professor X take a cell phone out of his pocket. Elijah, though he tried not to listen, couldn't help overhearing a couple of the phrases he exchanged with the person on the other end of the line. "You're in, then? What are the others like? Her brother? Oh dear, that isn't—and Darkforce manipulation?" He stopped and said something to the teacher that wanted to be called "Mr. McCoy" and then quickly wheeled out of the room, speaking into the phone once again.

Turning to the boy with the appliances in his ears, he said, "Um, hi, I'm Elijah, Elijah Morgan."

"Damien Cross," he gave a small smile.

Damien easily read Elijah's lips as he talked about how excited he was to be there. The sound didn't get past his hearing aids, and he was glad for that. Judging by the way the sound waves reverberated around him he had a naturally loud voice. And with all the noise that he could see in the foyer, anything blocking the sounds was welcome to him. "If you don't mind my asking, what are those appliances for?" Elijah asked.

Damien faked a smile, wishing he didn't have to explain, "They protect my ears by blocking out sound. Any sounds above a whisper causes pain for me. And yes, I can read lips perfectly well."

Seeing sound didn't hurt his ability to know what people were saying, either. "Sorry, if you don't want to talk about it."

Damien shrugged, "It's alright. It's just a good thing I learned how to talk before my ears got messed up."

"Alright guys, follow me," Bobby said leaping up the stairs.

"Girls, you can come with me," Kitty smiled, holding a clipboard in her hands.

The four girls followed her in a single file line down the hall behind the boys. "Okay, I don't know everyone's names yet, it was a little too hectic down there to learn them. So, where's Mallory Popov?"

"I'm here!" The girl in the poofy red shirt waved her hand.

"Amity Jack? Bridgette Lundgren?"

A younger looking girl with straight pigtails smiled and said "here" while Bridgette mumbled "present." Looking down at her clipboard and then back up at the girl in the leather jacket, Kitty said, "And you must be Rosalia Arcuri! I love your boots, by the way. Now, let me see…Storm wrote down your rooms somewhere…here they are! And here are your rooms," she motioned to the two open doors on one side of the hallway, "Mallory and Amity, you're room is right here," she stopped next to the first one, "And Rosalia and Bridgette, you'll be sharing the room at the end. I'll be back in twenty minutes to take you to the Danger Room."

"The _Danger _Room? What's—," Rosalia began, but Kitty had left in a hurry to finish some errands.

Crossing her arms, she sighed and walked into her bedroom where her roommate was sitting on one of the beds. There was a distinct lack of personality in the room, which she guessed was purposeful. After all, they needed a clean slate for decorating, right? Rosalia could already envision her decorating plans for the room, but stopped when she saw her bland looking roommate. No way would she go for the mixture of bright and dark colors she wanted to bring in. But then again, she seemed to have her nose in that book, so maybe she just wouldn't notice any changes to the room.

Looking around the room, the girl played with the ends of her hair that were dyed blue. _Talk about being out of your comfort zone. Mallory and Amity seemed friendly, I kind of wish I'd gotten one of them as my roommate._

"This room could use some decorating," she said out loud, hoping to break the ice, "What do you think about purple curtains?"

Bridgette looked up from her book and stared at the window as if envisioning the colorful drapery. She shrugged, but didn't make eye contact with Rosalia or even look at her. _Well someone sure is friendly_. The girl rolled her eyes and flopped down on her own bed. It was going to be a long school year, and the actual classes hadn't even begun.

In one of the rooms on the boys' side of the hallway, Theodore Dagan was having his own difficulties. His roommate, Calvin Bauer, had challenged him to a game of chess and was practically killing him. The sophomore had had to teach him how to play and he was still having some difficulty distinguishing between the pieces. "This is the bishop, right?" He asked Scottish accent, picking up a game piece.

"No, that's a rook. I can't believe you've never played chess before," Calvin shook his head.

"What's that supposed to mean? I've played it before, but not for a long time," he didn't like the tone that his roommate was using.

"Chess isn't too hard. I guess it is for beginners, though. If you don't play games what _do_ you do for fun?"

"I like boxing, ever try it?"

"No, and I don't really want to."

"Why not? It's fun! Besides, by the way things sound we'll be doing some type of combat in the future."

"I'll just wait and cross that bridge when I come to it. Oh look, you're in stalemate."

"That's it, I give up."

He stood up and adjusted his baseball cap before walking over to the door, "I'm going to explore what I can, this is a new place and I'd like to learn as much as I—,"

"No time for exploring, I'm taking you all to the Danger Room," Kitty's voice came from the other side of the door, "And no I wasn't eavesdropping, it just easy to hear you. That's a warning; the doors are thin so you don't want to talk loudly."

The eight student walked into the hallway and followed Kitty down another hallway. Amity Jack stuck close to Mallory, who she had decided was her newest friend. "What do you think the Danger Room is?" She mused, "A control room?"

"Maybe, I'm guessing some sort of combat chamber," her new friend said.

"I hope they don't put us in there," Amity's eyes widened, "That would suck. I'd prefer to train before actually fighting something. But I guess I can try if I have to."

She walked along with a slight bounce in each step. All the new sights and smells excited the freshman and she had begun to anticipate whatever Professor Xavier had planned for them. She was ready to do anything from combat training to water skiing. Fiddling with one of her ponytails like she always did when excited, Amity and Mallory continued to talk and exchange the information they had gathered on their fellow students. "I know Theodore's from Scotland and Damien can't hear loud sounds without getting hurt," Amity said, "But I don't have a clue about their powers."

"Maybe that's what this about, the Professor might want us to show off our powers to each other," Mallory offered.

"Probably; I hope we get to choose names for ourselves, I already know what I want to be called."

"What?"

"You'll have to wait and see!"

They entered a hallway lined with panels and a large door at the end. "Danger Room" was printed on a sign above the doorway. Kurt materialized out of thin air, a smug expression on his face, "Welcome to the Danger Room. The professor wants to 'assess your abilities," he put air-quotes around Xavier's words, "So he put me on wardrobe duty."

"In other words, Kurt's your fashion designer for the day," Kitty smirked.

The teleporter snorted, "Fashion designer? You get one choice: the younger recruits' old uniforms."

"Wonder which lucky kid will get my old one," Bobby laughed.

"And here's Kurt's fellow fashionista: Bobby. You two need to help them find uniforms that fit them for today. And don't worry, you'll be getting your own uniforms, we just don't have them yet. So you'll have to settle for the old and smelly ones."

Bobby handed Rosalia a uniform that looked like it had a few pieces of dog hair stuck to it, "Here, take this one."

The girl grabbed a pair of boots and gloves and hurried off the bathroom, saying something about wanting a lint roller.

**.~.~.~.**

Inside the Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House, which now appeared to be a normal residential home, a girl with choppy white hair slumped in the sagging couch that smelled faintly of some kind of body odor. All she knew was that the former Brotherhood had wrecked the house and the one nice room had belonged to the one girl who lived there, not counting Mystique. She had wanted to claim that one for her own, but Magda Finley beat her too it. "And your name is October Fields, correct?" The lady in front of her wrote down the girl's name on the form.

"Yeah," she said in a light Irish accent, "How much more paperwork is that?"

"I think that's all of it. Are you sure you couldn't have come down to the school to finish signing up, dear?"

"Positive. Miss O'Halloran needed me to stick around while we clean up this mess."

"That's right. She just moved in a week ago, didn't she? What a wonderful lady, taking in five foster care students. I'm surprised she even bought this dump, but I suppose it can be cleaned up."

Her words were lost to October the moment she put her headphones on and turned up her music. _I wish she would just go away…_

"Bye, Miss Fields, I'll see you in a few days when school starts."

The moment the door closed behind her, a sticky, black substance crawled across the wall from another room. October watched the oily substance with a slight look of distain on her face and rolled her eyes. The oil fell off of the wall with a _schlorp_ and plopped onto the ground. "What do you want, Dylan?" October sighed.

The puddle of crude oil raised itself up and quickly turned back into a boy. "I don't want anything," he coughed, "I was practicing. Mystique said my transformation's too slow."

"Please go somewhere else, I'm trying to relax."

"If you insist," Dylan crossed his arms and melted back into a huge puddle of black oil.

He made his way across the floor, looking for someone to surprise. Everyone around here was so solemn and no fun, there needed to be some excitement in the house. Everywhere Dylan went there was evidence of attempted repairs. Patched holes, a new refrigerator, a roll of carpet waiting to get put down. It was better than when they'd first arrived, the house had almost been condemned. He still wondered how Mystique had managed to keep the dump.

The boy flowed up the stairs, still crude oil. Slowly, he climbed the wall and made his way to the ceiling, sticking to it as he travelled. Now, which room did he dare to open? The three doors each led to a bedroom and he knew for a fact that they were all currently occupied. Falling from the ceiling and splattering on the ground, Dylan inched towards the center door and flowed underneath it.

If oil slicks could smile, Dylan would look like the Cheshire Cat. Somebody was huddled underneath their covers, getting in an afternoon nap. He could only image the angry shouts when he woke up his victim.

Before he scared himself and backed out, Dylan reared up, looking like his human form, but made out of the crude, sticky oil. Then, while manipulating the oil to appear like some monster from an oil drill, he gave his best unearthly scream.

It worked too well.

Shiloh Jack threw off his covers and Dylan was knocked to the ground by a bolt of electricity. "What was that for?" Shiloh barked, slowly turning into raw electricity like he seemed to do when he was mad.

"It was joke, geez," Dylan hissed, rubbing a place on his arm that felt like it was buzzing.

Shiloh gave the boy a withering glare, which promptly sent him flowing under the door again, back in oil form. Was life with the Brotherhood really going to be like this? If that was the case, no wonder the first version left and joined some goody two-shoes team like Freedom Force. And Dylan hadn't even scared him he had had a feeling the kid was going to try to pull something like that. All he felt was pure annoyance. "I should have fried him right there," he snorted as pulled the covers back over his head.

There were so many people he wanted to fry with his electrical bolts. He thought about that smart aleck policewoman who tried to bust him for "defacing property" with graffiti last year. She almost became a living battery for a moment. If it weren't for Mystique, he'd probably be somewhere like juvie. Although if he had to put up with jokers like Dylan, he decided he'd almost rather take juvie. At least there they knew how to handle kids like him, or at least was sure they did.

"Shiloh, did you zap Dylan?" Magda's voice reached his ears.

"Yes, I hope you're thanking me."

"Just curious," she sighed and walked away.

Magda walked down the stairs to see some movers bringing in a new table and chairs. "Where does your mother want this stuff?" One of the movers asked, wiping his brow.

"_Mother_?" She raised an eyebrow, "You mean Miss O'Halloran? My 'foster mother?'"

"Yeah, her."

"I don't know."

Magda walked away, leaving the perplexed men behind. She noticed extra shadows in the living and peaked in to find October snoozing on the couch, loud music playing in her headphones. _How does she sleep with that stuff on?_ Looking up, she saw the movers again, and noticed how dark the living room was getting. "Good grief," she groaned and walked over to the Irish girl, "October, wake up! You're shadowing the room again!"

The white-haired girl's head snapped up from its resting position and the shadows immediately retreated. "You know, you should really work on that," Magda said, playing with a piece of her maroon hair, "We can't have the entire house get pitch black every time you decide to sleep."

October yawned, "Just keep me awake when company's over."

"Mystique's not going to let you plunge the entire house into darkness, we still need some light when we sleep."

"Magda's got a point, October," Nicholas Massena walked in, "I could practically hear you scream 'I don't care.'"

October laughed and simply turned up her music louder. "I tried," Nicholas shrugged.

Magda crossed her arms and shook her head, "We've got to learn to work as a team eventually."

"And that means no annoying the others," he eyed Dylan who had come into the living room, "Now flying off the handle, trying to control your powers, _and_ being close like a family."

Magda stepped back, "Sorry, but I'm not sure how close I want you to be."

Nicholas sighed, "Come on, we need to make sure that we can actually pull this off. Mystique gave us all a chance for a reason, we need to show her that we're worth it. Do you want to be a loser like Toad or a wannabe hero like Avalanche? We're going to do this _right_."

**.~.~.~.**

"The goal is to get to reach the other side of the Danger Room, though I won't let any of you get hurt. Use your powers to help, I just want to see how well you all have a grasp on them," Professor X's voice came through the loudspeaker.

The eight students made their way to one side of the Danger Room where eight markers were place on the walls. A few held wary looks on their faces as they began take in their surroundings. This would be the first time most of them had used their powers like this, most had never even had to use them in defense! "I've set up a personal scenario for each of you. Your instructions are to get past the obstacles and reach the other side of the room," the Professor continued.

"Sounds simple enough," Theodore said, mainly to himself.

Immediately after he spoke, walls came up from the ground, separating each of the students. They all paused for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly to do, and then all eight of them plunged forward. Professor X, Storm, and Hank watched from the control room, taking note of their abilities, fighting style, and apparent experience.

Damien walked quickly through his corridor, knowing danger could be just around the corner. He could see a few vibrations in the air that reminded him of the sound waves that machines let off. Narrowing his eyes, he inched ahead a bit and peaked around a bend. The sound waves seemed to be centered around a patch on the wall. Smiling a little bit, he crept out and took a deep breath of air.

A loud shriek filled the room, causing the rest of the students to stop what they were doing and cover their ears. The area of the wall shattered, revealing a now broken laser gun. A grin spread across his face when saw that he'd taken out the first obstacle. He began rushing forward, keeping track of the sounds that he could see so that he was ready to blast something his voice again. Suddenly, a huge wave of water splashed over, the sides of the wall, dousing him in water. "Sorry!" Amity called, even though all he saw was the sound and her lips move.

She quickly returned to her normal state, afraid she would get water everywhere. Amity ran down the long passageway, wondering what kinds of tricks would get thrown her way. _I wonder if the water would damage the electronics,_ she thought to herself.

Continuing forward, she kept an eye on her surroundings. With a shriek, she pulled to a stop. Something that looked like a narrow but deep pool was in front of her; it was too wide to jump across, but not enough to be considered large. Ahead of it, she could see what looked like a gauntlet waiting to pummel her. Amity brushed her straight, black hair out of her face as she took in her next challenge. This was going to be easy. The girl dove straight into the water and, closing her eyes, began to bond with the water.

All the water in the pool shot out, controlled by one mind. It flew forward like a tidal wave, rushing through the gauntlet without getting hurt.

In another corridor, Theodore ducked underneath a bar that shot out of the side of the wall, attempting to clothesline him. As he kept walking forward, another bar shot out from the side. This time, however, he was ready. He put up his arm, which he had turned into sleek metal, to block it. The rod rammed into it, put bent at the tip, unable to harm him. Theodore transformed his other arm into the same substance for just in case, and then ran forward.

The entire time, he wished he could transform his entire body into metal; that would be useful when he needed to defend himself. Just then, something that looked like a robot came out of some kind of door. Thinking quickly, Theodore willed one of his bones to stick out of his arm, coated in the same metal. He finished pulling it out and then threw it at the robot. Unfortunately, he missed. "This isn't going to end well," he winced.

Mallory, unlike the others, had begun to realize that she was facing real people in her walled-off section. And to make matters worse, it was some of the X-Men. It made sense, though, her abilities only worked on living beings. The girl knew she wasn't going to be able to get to the end the quickest. Her back to the wall, she slid along, wary of anything that could pop out in front of her. Then she heard a _bamf!_ sound. Kurt appeared in front of her, bringing the smell of brimstone with him.

"Let's see if I can actually do this," Mallory whispered to herself.

She thought of spiders, like when she scared away the man who tried to steal from her. She knew she could manage conjuring up the image of the nasty things. She watched as a look of mainly surprise came over Kurt's face, though he didn't seem particularly…afraid of them. Frantically, she thought of something else. _I can make it look like I'm blending into a wall!_

Mallory began trying the illusion, making it look like she had teleported to another part of the corridor.

In the section next to Mallory, blocks made out of wood were beginning to splinter and fly apart. Calvin stood there, knowing something—or someone—was about to come out after him. And now that he had about a million wood splinters at his disposal, he was ready for anything. The chips surrounded him like an aura as he moved along. Any other wooden objects that had been put in his section quickly joined the aura.

A whirring sound from behind reached Calvin's ears and he spun around to see a large laser gun come out of the ground. Immediately, around one thousand sharp splinters and other wooden fragments pelted it. The large pieces he manipulated to hit it like a baseball bat, while he made the smaller chips pelt it with their sharp ends. A grating noise finally came from the weapon and it went limp. "Wish I could study that thing," Calvin said out loud as he turned on his heel and ran, the cloud of wooden pieces still with him, ready to hit or spear anything that got in his way.

Rosalia's hands glowed gold as the robotic canon in front of her raised itself four times slower than its normal speed. A small smirk was on her face as she slunk by it. As her hands continued to glow, she sped up the time around her, causing her to run faster than she normally could. She wasn't able to speed time up enough to allow herself to run at twice her average speed, but it was better than nothing.

Rosalia flew around a corner, only to run into a large, metal plate that had decided to stick out from the side of the wall. She muttered something under her breathe; but reminded herself that she needed to remember to use control. Fatigue was starting to set in, Rosalia had almost forgotten how tiring it was manipulate time around certain objects. "Why couldn't this be a little easier?" She mumbled out loud.

_Ping! Ping!_ Lasers bounced off of the square of red energy that Elijah had created in front of himself. His energy shield was growing weak and he would have to generate a new one soon. The freshman created a small energy shield to protect his side and another shield to protect the other. Elijah could feel the energy being drained from his body has he made more and more shields. But he had to finish first; he didn't want to be the weakest member of the X-Men.

_Blam!_ A large, laser canon fired at Elijah, disintegrating his energy shield. The boy flew backwards and landed on the ground. "How in the world am I supposed to get to the end of this?" He wondered.

Generating a shield that his energy levels allowed, he forced himself to stand up and barrel forward again. Elijah was half-way through, he now had to run the same tortuous length had just completed one more time; at least this half wouldn't be the same.

Bridgette wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. The Danger Room was surprisingly cold, colder than she thought it would be. Exasperated by her predicament, she gave a heavy sigh, purposely breathing out freezing breath as she did so. Bridgette watched her breath freeze against the corridor walls. The girl crossed her arms and went on, looking for a chance to gain some headway. Finally, she saw her chance: a shallow—but long—pool of water. Sea urchins lined the bottom, ready to poke and prod her feet.

Certain that the urchins were simply robots enhanced with holographs, Bridgette carefully stuck her shaking hands into the water. Small, icy patters began to emerge in the pool. Thick ice began to form on top of the water, starting around her hands and then fanning out. When it was completely frozen over, Bridgette gingerly set a foot on it, testing out her handiwork. She could feel the ice through the soles of her shoes, but she kept on.

Suddenly, a loud buzzer sounded, making everyone cringe except Damien. "Your time is up, students. We will talk over dinner about what he saw today," Professor X said.

**.~.~.~.**

"They're all inexperienced, especially a certain few," Xavier mused in the Control Room.

"Yes, but that's why they're here, so that they can _gain_ experience," Storm added.

Hank agreed with her, "The students don't exactly have the fighting skills that our older members do. However, I believe that training sessions and school can easily fix that."

The three teachers spoke about each student individually with each other, pointing out both the good and bad in each student. They took notes on what the students needed to learn and what might be the correct method to use. When they finally finished, the went down to the Meal Hall where everyone was waiting for them around the table.

The new students were mingling with the rest of the X-Men as if they were all old friends. "Let's begin dinner, shall we?" Professor X smiled as he rolled in, "Jean's prepared a wonderful meal for us," he glanced Bobby's way, "And it looks like a few of you didn't wait for the rest of us to arrive before eating."

Bobby tried to say something around his mouthful of chicken, but didn't get out anything besides a muffled squeak. Turning to the rest of the team, the Professor smiled, "I'm proud of how our new recruits handled themselves today in the Danger Room. While none of you reached the end, I saw that every single one of you possesses talent and some degree of control. You will all do well here, and I'm very glad to have all of you."

"You get to choose codenames now," Scott said, "That way if we ever have to use our powers in public, we can use those so your identities won't be discovered by the public."

"You mean like superhero names?" Elijah said with a look of glee.

Rogue shrugged, "Y'all could say that."

"That's cool," Mallory said, "I'll have to give this some thought."

"I already know what I want to be," Rosalia said confidently, "Clockwork. I manipulate time, so clocks are perfect for me."

"Jericho," Damien spoke up, "Like the city in the Bible."

Calvin, who had been thinking about what he wanted to be called, said, "I want to be called something simple. I like Timber; that should get the message across."

"Ooh, I like it!" Amity grinned, "Timber sounds neat. I want to be called Nymph, like a water nymph."

"I'll go by Switch," Theodore said, "Since I can switch between metal and normal skin."

"And I'll be Arcturus," Elijah announced, "It's the name of a star."

"Why a star?" Kitty raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, it just sounded cool to me."

"You can call me Gypsy," Mallory finally said, "It sounds pretty and I think it makes me sound mysterious." She giggled a bit in excitement after she spoke.

"And what about you?" Amity, smiled at Bridgette, who had seemed to shrink in her seat, "What do you want to be called?"

The girl shrugged her thin shoulders and continued eating in silence. "You can create ice, it should be winter related. How about…Icicle?" Jean said, hoping to help her out.

Bridgette nodded and replied quietly, "Thank you, I like it."

Professor X smiled in satisfaction, he was happy with who he had selected to join his team. These would be the new generation of X-Men, and he couldn't have asked for better students.

* * *

**I'd like to thank The Princess Anastasia for creating Amity Jack, Kitkat1425 for creating Elijah Morgan, The Knave of Northland for creating Bridgette Lundgren, SlyFox17 for creating Rosalia Arcuri, A Half-Empty Glass for creating Theodore Dagan, MysteryAgain for creating Calvin Bauer, Munamana for creating Damien Cross, Dino724 for creating Mallory Popov, Ninja Cat Is Stalking You for creating October Fields, The Knave of Northland for creating Dylan Baines, Half-Empty Glass for creating Magda Finley, The Princess Anastasia for creating Shiloh Jack, and SlyFox17 for creating Nicholas Massena.**

* * *

**Yes, that was longer than I had planned for it to be. But when you get really into the story, you get really into the story. Anyways, I don't have a set updating schedule. I'm still working on the plot, so the chapter size will probably vary. The longer the chapter, the longer it will take for me to update. No update will take longer than two weeks; if it will, I will tell you in advance.**

**Also, I'm not going to discontinue this story, I love it too much. If something comes up that causes me to cancel it, I'll PM you and let you all know. You guys who are taking the time to read and review my work deserve to know if I'm not going to be writing it anymore.**

**Next, I'll be doing this story in story arcs. The prologue, this chapter, and the next chapter will not be part of a story arc. Once the first arc begins, I will include its name in the title of the chapter.**

**Also, we didn't get to see too much of the characters in this chapter since I wanted to include them all in the beginning. As the story progresses, we'll see some character development and the like. I'm also currently studying the characters and seeing what exactly makes them tick, how they think, etc. **

**The next chapter will show the X-Men and the Brotherhood's first day at Bayville High. How has it changed? Has it gotten better or worse for mutants? The next chapter won't be part of a story arc, as I already stated, but I feel like it's important to have a chapter for that, so the X-Men can interact with the Brotherhood, other students, and get their first taste of true anti-mutant feelings.**


	3. Lost Generation

**I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed so far, it's greatly appreciated! **

**Also, I've taken to naming the chapters after instrumentals that I like to listen to while I write. This chapter is named after "Lost Generation" by Audiomachine. If you'd like to listen to the songs, I can put links to them on YouTube on my profile.**

* * *

"**Lost Generation"**

Bridgette Lundgren held her cyan canvas backpack on her lap, trying to make herself as small as possible. She wanted to reach up and adjust her hairband, which was failing to keep her platinum blonde hair out of her eyes. But then again, it hid her face from sight, and by the way Rogue had spoken about Bayville that morning, that was what she wanted. Just the thought of bullies had made Bridgette want to throw up her waffles that morning. She wasn't sure if she could handle any of the drama again, especially since this high school in particular was known for its hatred of mutants.

"I want you all to remember," Storm said from the driver's seat, "None of you are allowed to go anywhere except for school without a chaperone. These are dangerous time for us and we don't want any of you to get hurt. And one of us has to drive you to and from school. Do you all understand?"

"Yes, Miss Munroe," Mallory and Calvin said in unison.

Glancing out the window, her throat began to constrict. They were pulling to a stop in front of the school…and people were pointing at them. People around Bayville knew that this car belonged to the X-Men, since it was what they usually drove around in. The pale girl tried to shrink down in her seat and hide her face from the spiteful stares. _Jean said we'll be safe if we behave, but now I'm not so sure…_

She heard the car door open and saw Theodore and Mallory jump out of the vehicle, followed by Rosalia and Elijah. "I wish we could stay home," Bridgette whimpered, looking at Amity.

"You'll do fine, just don't let them get to you," the younger girl said before she turned and stepped out of the car after Damien.

Reluctantly, Bridgette slid the backpack's straps over her shoulders and crept out, putting both feet on the sidewalk at the same time. Ororo gave some goodbyes, and then sped away. _She doesn't want to be around here, and I don't blame her._

"What's this, another batch of freaks?" A voice hissed.

Theodore walked past the group of students, telling the others to follow him. People began whispering amongst each other, and Bridgette's grip on the book she had carried with her tightened. "Bridgette, are you sure you're okay?" Rosalia asked.

"I-I'm fine," she wished she could shrink.

"We'll meet up at the same table during lunch. I doubt we're welcome to sit with anyone else," Theodore said, "Good luck in your classes."

"We'll need it," Damien mumbled under his breath as he took off down a hallway.

The other six went their own way, trying to ignore the glares and pointed fingers that were directed at them. Bridgette stood in the spot, looking down at the schedule that she held with a shaking hand, her book in the other. Her first class was World History, though she had no idea where it was. There was always the logical option: ask someone for directions. But this was Bayville High, who would want to talk to her? They would probably laugh and tell her to find it for herself.

_Maybe_ _I'll just figure this out by myself._

Bridgette looked from hallway to hallway, taking note of the room numbers. Finally, her light blue eyes fell on Room 401. Her class had to be in that hallway! Ungluing her feet from the tiled floor, she slowly walked forward, trying to blend in as much as possible.

The bell rang the moment she sat down in her desk near the back of the classroom. The teacher, a stern looking woman, stood up from her chair and walked up to the front of the classroom. "My name is Miss Phillips, don't call me anything else. I'm new this year, but I've always loved teaching history and I'm sure you will, too, once this year is over. So, in order to get to know each other, why don't you each tell me your name and something interesting about yourself. And don't say 'I like sports' or 'I like to read.' Students do that every year."

Bridgette sat patiently in her desk, trying to think of something interesting until Miss Phillips called on her. "Bridgette Lundgren?"

"P-present."

"Speak up, I can't hear you."

"Present."

"So, what's something interesting about you?"

A boy in the front smirked, "She's one of the muties. That's pretty interesting in my opinion."

"Yes, that's interesting, Edward, but I want to hear from Bridgette," Miss Phillips looked up at her, her stare colder than before.

"Um—I—," Bridgette racked her mind for something interesting, "I—I'm—I'm half Swedish."

A boy near her snickered, "I thought Scandinavian girls were taller and actually had curves."

"Yeah, she's probably lying," another snorted.

"N-no I'm not lying," Bridgette clenched her fists.

"Speak up, Miss Lundgren, we can't hear you," Miss Phillips said, "Is Ryan right, are you lying?"

"N-no, I'm not. My father moved from Stockholm to Fargo. I-I have pictures a-and letters, and—,"

"That's quite enough, Miss Lundgren, I believe you. Maybe your father would be willing to speak with us via telephone or Skype when we reach the Viking Era in our books. I'm sure he knows something about it. Will you ask him?"

_I can't ask him! _"I-I don't know…but I'll try." _You're so stupid, Bridgette._

**.~.~.~.**

Shiloh Jack and Dylan Baines sauntered around the corner, their senses on high alert, ready for any signs of hostility that were directed towards them. But strangely, they had been treated just like normal students. What they did notice, however, was the group of students who had just come in that was being glared at. The people close to them meanly whispered and pointed, then turned their backs on the group. "I'll bet they're the X-Men," Dylan crossed his arms, "Mystique said they'd be coming here."

"Yeah, but how do the others already know who they are?"

"The principal, probably. She doesn't strike me as a mutant supporter. Probably sent the word out to their parents as a warning," Dylan spat his gum into a trashcan.

"And she doesn't know Mystique isn't really 'Miss O'Halloran,'" a large smile worked its way across Shiloh's face, "You know what this means?"

"What?"

"The school doesn't know we're mutants. Looks like this is going to be easy for us."

Dylan chose that moment to sneeze violently, causing oil to fly out of his nose. He jumped backwards and covered the lower half of his face, watching droplets fly into the air and splatter against some lockers and the floor. Shiloh gave him a dark look as the oil on Dylan's face retreated back into his nose. "I think we're good, nobody noticed that I sneezed oil," Dylan gave a sigh of relief.

"Pull that again and they probably will. Control yourself!" Shiloh huffed.

"Sorry."

Dylan made any trickles of oil coming out his nose disappear before they continued walking down the hallway. Shiloh couldn't help but role his eyes at his teammate's accident. Hopefully the others weren't having any slip ups, he sure didn't want to get pointed out as a mutant, especially after he saw how the X-Men were begin treated. Those anti-mutant people made him sick, sick enough to want to electrocute them. October said he was "trigger-happy" with his powers that morning, and most of the others had agreed with them. So what if he didn't hide his feelings, at least he wasn't a secret keeper like some other people. Take Nicholas for example, he didn't trust the empath one bit. And why should he? The guy had pretty much named himself leader of the Brotherhood and he _always_ knew what they were feeling. Always. It was kind of creepy, really.

The two stopped by a vending machine to people watch before the bell rang. Shiloh stuffed a few quarters into the coin slot while Dylan eyed a group of cheerleader that strode past them. "You think we'll be able to keep things quiet about us?" He asked.

Shiloh shrugged, taking a sip from his can of Coke, "If we try hard enough, yeah; so long as our fearless leader doesn't mess anything up."

Dylan opened his mouth to say something as they headed to their Biology class, but thought better of it and promptly shut it when Shiloh gave him a dark look. He pushed the door of room 703 open and plopped his backpack down next to chair closest to the door, with Dylan sitting beside him. He wished the oil slick would stop following him and let him have his privacy. There were hardly any chances of getting time to himself back at the house, school was the only place he could possibly escape his roommates.

Taking another sip from his soda can, Shiloh scanned the room, inspecting the back of everyone's head. He almost did a spit-take when a girl quickly walked past him and made eye contact. She stopped and turned around, a horrified expression on her face. "What the—," he began, but interrupted him.

"Shi! What are doing here? Mom and Dad—," she exclaimed.

Amity. What the heck was Amity doing in Bayville? The last he'd heard, his goody-two-shoes twin still lived with their parents back in Chicago! It had been two years, but she still looked the same as she had when he asked her to help him escape the cops; of course his parents' little princess refused to do so.

The lights began to flicker a little bit and Shiloh felt sparks build up in him, threatening to fry the desk and electrocute Dylan, who wore a dumbfounded look on his face. "I don't know you," he scowled, forcing his powers back, "Leave me alone."

"Listen, there's a place you can go, to get help with your powers like I am!"

"I have other friends, not backstabbing princesses like you. So just find a desk on the other side of the classroom and leave me alone before I turn you into a lightning rod."

Tears welled up in his sister's eyes and she dashed to the other side of the room. _Terrific, just terrific. Dylan's going to question me now and then word's going to get out that my sister is one of those X-Men. I just can't escape her, can I?_

"That was your _sister_?" Dylan raised his eyebrows.

Right on cue. Shiloh gave him a glare that told him that if he pressed any further on the issue, he was going to get fried like a piece of bacon.

**.~.~.~.**

"This is the worst school I've ever been to!" Rosalia growled, "Amity's been crying since her first class, Elijah's already got bruises from getting pushed into the lockers, Bridgette's too afraid to look anyone in the eye, and now someone's destroyed one of Damien's earpieces!"

Damien looked up from his plate of food that he was eating with one hand; the other was clamped over his ear to block out any sounds. Rosalia was speaking almost too quickly for him to read her lips, but he was quite able to manage. Not to mention a tiny bit of muffled sound was able to get past his hand and reach his ear. He still wanted that hearing aid back, but at least now he was able to get an idea of what his new teammates sounded like.

Mallory came over the table and slammed her tray down, leaving her sloppily made sandwich in disarray. Her face was bright red and she mumbling angrily to herself. _And that makes all four of the girls. It looks like everyone's had it rough today._

"I've never been to a worse school, either," Calvin fumed, dropping his textbooks on the table, "The people in Chicago were nicer than this bunch of bigots."

Damien felt an uncanny feeling of feat bubble inside him. This was ground zero for mutant hatred, and they had entered the thick of it. The only way out was to make everything that they said bounce off…but that was easier said than done. If it hadn't been for Mrs. Mitchell, there was no telling where he would be now, certainly not at Bayville. And while the school was frightening, at least there were people at the Xavier Institute who actually cared about what happened to them.

"Kitty texted me!" Mallory exclaimed, pulling out her cellphone.

"What does she want?" Theodore asked, dropping his hamburger onto the tray.

"She wants to know how we're holding up."

Elijah looked up from rubbing his bruises, "Should we tell her everything?"

"We have two telepaths at the Institute, it won't do any good to hide anything from anyone," Rosalia remarked.

Mallory quickly typed in a message, but suddenly dropped her phone. "Mal? Mal, what's wrong!" Damien gasped as he, Rosalia, and Theodore jumped up to help their friend.

Her eyes were clamped shut and her hands were placed on her temples. Mallory rocked back and forth for a few moments, a look of pain on her face. "What's happening to her?" Calvin whispered.

Finally, Mallory opened her eyes, which were now bloodshot. She massaged her temples as she sighed and looked down at her tray. "Mallory, what just happened?" Amity asked fearfully.

"I-it's my precognitive powers. It doesn't kick in very often, but when it does, it doesn't feel that great."

They exchanged surprised glances as Mallory explained her ability. Apparently, she saw something about the kids at the table next to theirs. Something about getting a worried call from a "Mrs. O'Halloran." They all looked up to see the students who sat close to them.

"Those-those are Shiloh's friends!" Amity sniffed, "And I don't like the looks of them."

The white-haired girl took off her earphones when she saw them watching her table and narrowed her eyes when she saw them. She said something to the dark-skinned girl wearing glasses next to her. They gestured towards the X-Men and said something to Shiloh, who seemed to be talking angrily with a boy who seemed to be blowing his nose into a tissue—with black mucus coming out. The only person who didn't seem completely hostile towards them was an older looking boy who was probably the same age as Theodore and Damien. "Why would you see something like that?" Elijah raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, but the way it seemed, she wanted them to do something. And-and the boy with black snot, he something them being her foster kids," Mallory said, still rubbing her temples.

"I don't get it," Damien said, making sure to cover his unprotected ear, "Why would you see something like that?"

"Maybe it has something to do with Amity's brother. I don't like the sound of this O'Halloran woman," Calvin suggested.

"It could," Damien shrugged, "Maybe…the rest of them are mutants. I mean, that freshman was blowing _black_ snot into the Kleenex. Unless he's been in a really dusty house, it shouldn't look like that."

"That's…really gross," Amity made a face.

They continued trying to come up with possible explanations, since Mallory said that her visions usually had something involving her or someone close. However, none of their ideas were possible, until Damien proposed asking Kitty about it. Mallory quickly sent a text to their teacher, hoping a quick response. It was obvious that their neighbors had noticed the attention they were gaining by now. They looked like a rather motley bunch, and the sooner they got away from the group, the better.

Then Kitty's text came back, "_Sounds like the Brotherhood to me. Talk with the Prof when you get back, I don't like the sound of this._"

Damien felt afraid again. Now there weren't just people who wanted to get rid of him, there were possibly other mutants who wanted the X-Men gone, as well.

**.~.~.~.**

Nicholas Massena poked his head out of the boys' locker room door, making sure the coast was clear. Seeing that no teacher was in the white-washed hallway, he ducked back inside and locked the door with the key he'd pilfered from the janitor. Shiloh and Dylan stood behind him, waiting for him to speak. Magda and October had managed to sneak inside without getting noticed. "Listen guys, the X-Men are onto us," he hissed, "If we don't get them off our trail, Mystique is going to lose it."

"Are you sure she hasn't already lost it?" October rolled her eyes, "If you haven't noticed, all she talks about is impressing Magneto."

Magda snorted, "I think Magneto's the one in charge, not Mystique."

Nicholas knew that the girls were right, Magneto was the puppeteer of the whole group. Why he had even bothered making the blue-skinned mutant start over was beyond him, especially after he learned how the original Brotherhood had ended up. He had been trying his hardest to learn about the enigmatic Magneto, to see who was calling all the shots. But Magneto was good—very good. The man had disappeared after Apocalypse tried to take over and hadn't been in the news since. At first he thought that he simply died from disease or old age, but that obviously wasn't true. And it worried Nicholas, he was a member of the Brotherhood, but that didn't make any difference. Magneto was still at large, and he and the other four were some of the puppets in his plan.

"Massena, Baines, Jack, you in there? You're the only ones not out!" The coach's harsh voice cut through the door.

"Coming right out, coach!" Nicholas called back and then turned to the girls, "You two should get out before they find you here."

"Sure," Magda said nonchalantly, heading for the door in the back that opened up to the track with October on her tail.

The three walked out into the hallways where the coach waited with a clipboard in his hands. He quickly wrote "tardy" beside their names and then ordered them to get over to the track. Shiloh and Dylan grumbled as they left the air conditioned building and walked out into the warm, early autumn air. It wasn't what Nicholas would call an ideal situation, but they did have to make the best of it, didn't they? After all, participating in P.E. was going to make them look like normal kids, unlike the X-Men, who he could see were already standing nervously on the track.

"Think I should try out for something?" Dylan asked as they joined the rest of the students.

"Like what?" Nicholas raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, I was thinking football. Back home I was pretty good, maybe I could make JV."

"You can try, I don't think turning into an oil spill is going to give you any kind advantage anyway, unless you sneeze it into someone's face."

The shrill scream of a whistle cut off the rest of their conversation as the coach stepped onto the field. He put his hands on his hips, feet planted apart in a dominating stance. All the P.E. students looked up at him with fear in their eyes. "You can call me Coach Willis. Not Coach, Willis, or Mister Willis; just Coach Willis, got it?"

"Yes, sir!" A few students barked as if they were in the military.

"Today's the first day of the year. I want all of you boys and girls to give me a mile so I can evaluate you all. No slacking, if your mile takes longer than the class period, you're staying after school to finish. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!" The same students said, coming close to saluting.

Everyone walked up to the starting line, ready to run. A few kids just stood there with their arms crossed and scowls on their faces. "Go!"

The students in the front took off like bullets while the ones in the back took their time, running in a slow, lazy jog. Nicholas wasn't about to spend all of his endurance on the first lap, and forced himself to stay at a fast jog in order to preserve some energy. He spotted Shiloh a little bit behind him, determined not to get shown up by the slow runners. Dylan was somewhere near the front, trying to impress Coach Willis, while Magda and October stuck towards the back so they could gossip with each other. Most of the students seemed to be running in pairs while the more ambitious people struck out on their own. Nicholas concentrated on covering ground while attempting to read the other students' feelings out of curiosity.

"I hate Coach, I hate Coach, I hate Coach," was the first impression he got from a rather portly sophomore struggling to keep up with his group.

Another girl was so happy about something that Nicholas couldn't help but roll his eyes. There was nothing wrong with being excited, but that girl was pushing the limits. "What are you doing with your eyes?" Someone asked.

He turned his head to see the girl with the blue dip-dyed hair from the X-Men running beside him. Her facial expression was unfriendly. "I'm not doing anything," Nicholas said flatly.

"You're looking straight at people and narrowing your eyes. You stalking them or something?"

"Har, har, very funny. Why do you care?"

"I have my reasons. What's your name?" The sudden topic shift seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Nicholas Massena. You?"

"Rosalia Arcuri. Now eat my dust."

Rosalia took off, leaving him in the middle of the dust. But before she got out of range, he sensed suspicion on her, along with the impression that she thought he was a Brotherhood member. Their cover was about to be blown.

**.~.~.~.**

"You can't just let them push you guys around!" Rosalia said, tossing her purple backpack onto the ground next to her bed.

Mallory, still with bloodshot eyes and a pounding headache, sat next to her while Amity sat with Bridgette on her bed. The pale girl held a book she had borrowed from the school library in her hands while Amity's eyes were still red from crying. Rosalia scowled, "Bridgette, you shouldn't have let them get to you like that! We're going to be considered weak!"

"Professor X doesn't want us to cause trouble," Mallory tapped her fingers against the bedspread, "I don't like getting pushed around anymore than you do, but we need to let them know that we're normal, just like them."

Amity sighed, "I wouldn't say we're exactly 'normal.'"

Rosalia rolled her eyes, "I'm not saying we should cause trouble. I just want you guys to stand up for yourselves. Bridgette, I'm going to start with you. Mal, Amity, pay attention. Bridge, I want you to insult me. Don't make it crude, but just something you might say when someone calls you a freak."

Bridgette looked up from her book, a lost look in her eyes. "Insult you?" Her voice came in its usual quiet manner.

Rosalia was beginning to wonder if making her roommate learn how to give insults was a smart idea, but these girls couldn't be pushovers. She didn't want them to be bullies, like that would ever happen with this bunch, but they couldn't become dishrags that were tossed anywhere and forgotten. "Yes, Bridgette, I want you to insult me. Pretend I'm one of those bigots and I just called you a freak. What do you do?" She waited for her to give an answer, though none came, "Bridge, come on, prove you can't be a doormat for people to push and knock over whenever they want. Insult me with the first thing that comes to your head. Now go!"

Bridgette hesitated, tightening the grip on her book, "Ah…um…y-your mother was a hamster a-and your father smelt of elderberries."

Rosalia clapped a hand to her forehead. This was going to be impossible. Mal and Amity snickered, not at Bridgette, but at Rosalia's reaction. She tried coaxing her into giving another attempt, but her roommate didn't have any interest in learning how to be condescending. She knew it was because Bridgette would prefer to run away and leave the problem hanging. Of course, she'd done just that with Nicholas Massena, the boy from her U.S. History class and possible Brotherhood member. Whatever he was doing during P.E. unnerved her, but he had been particularly good at hiding any information. "Come on, Rosalia, they're back from college; maybe we can get some answers about the 'Brotherhood,'" Mallory said, adding air quotes.

The four girls left Rosalia and Bridgette's room, but they saw Professor X talking with the X-Men, who wore grave faces. "What's going on?" Damien's voice reached her ears as the two groups met at the top of the stairway into the foyer.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look good. Come on," Rosalia started down the stairs with the rest of the younger recruits following.

"He _would_ do it," Scott's upset voice surprised them.

"Do what?" Elijah piped up the moment his feet hit the ground.

Professor X sighed sadly, "You all know that many people hate us and wouldn't hesitate to hurt any of you. The older students know that the best, but you're still new to the intensity of those feelings. I suppose you all should know what Senator Kelly is planning. Have you heard anything about the Mutant Registration Act?"

"I've heard a little, but mostly it was just rumors," Theodore shrugged, "We didn't have anything like it in the United Kingdom."

Rosalia frowned in concentration. She had never thought that the Mutant Registration Act would actually come into play. Her entire family believed that it was just a scare tactic to frighten the mutant population. But if the Professor was worried about it, maybe…maybe it really was going to get passed. "Logan seems to know more about it than I do, since he's spent so much time researching it. But unfortunately, he isn't here right now," Professor X went on, "But what's happened is that one of our state representatives, one against mutants, has been killed."

"They found his body at the bottom of the river," Bobby cringed, "Horrible way to die."

"Kelly is saying that a mutant did it, even though he was shot, they found bullet holes" Jean said, "And I'm sure I know how this is going to play out."

Rosalia knew exactly how it was going to play out, and it wouldn't be in their favor.

* * *

**And thus concludes the non-story arc part of "The Lost Years." The next chapter will begin our first story arc. **

**I've put the X-Men: Evolution logo as the cover. It's only temporary; I'm working on a cover that will have all of the X-Men OC's on it that will also be posted on deviantArt. It could take a little bit of time, though, since I want to make it just right.**


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